Hawk Harrelson whines about the umpires for the entire broadcast

[PunkinDrublic]

White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson spent an entire game complaining about umpire Joe WestAaron Gleeman
Aug. 23, 2010, 10:15 AM ET
29 comments
White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson spent the bulk of yesterday afternoon's game complaining about home plate umpire Joe West, who he feels holds a longtime grudge against the team that led to the Royals getting favorable calls.

Harrelson talked about the umpiring for literally innings at a time and his broadcast partner Frank Thomas, who was subbing for a vacationing Steve Stone, frequently chimed in to agree.

After every close pitch that was called a ball for a White Sox pitcher or a strike for a Royals pitcher, Harrelson launched into another monologue about the umpires conspiring against the White Sox. He frequently used words like "disgusting" and "disgraceful" to describe the situation, and called it a "travesty" that West was even allowed to work White Sox games after his incident with Mark Buehrle earlier this season.

At one point Thomas noted that "back when I was playing" the catcher and pitcher would intentionally get "crossed up" on a pitch and let it hit the umpire, which seemed to be mostly a joke because a) Thomas laughed, b) "back when I was playing" was all of two years ago, and c) that rarely, if ever, actually happens. But then Harrelson liked the sound of Thomas' "idea" and suggested the White Sox actually do it to West.

Seriously.

Finally, in the 10th inning Jason Kendall broke a 2-2 tie with a walk-off single, winning the game and the series for the Royals and dropping the White Sox to 2-4 on their road trip, at which point the following exchange took place:

Harrelson: This is absolutely ... [five-second pause] ... this is absolutely not right.


Thomas: This really sucks.
As a Twins fan I quite enjoyed the whole broadcast, but I can't imagine many other people liking three straight hours of complaining about umpires and I can't imagine MLB liking announcers publicly calling for teams to intentionally injure umpires.

[SithCeNtZ]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

I was commenting about this to a few friends today. Hawk whined the entire telecast and really turned it on at the end. That guy is simply unbearable.

Yep. The article really doesn't even do his complaining justice, to be honest. What I can't understand is how MLB doesn't suspend him for outright accusing the umpires of throwing the game. I can recall listening to various home town calls from various sports and if you listen to enough of them, you are bound to have a game where some calls aren't going their way and the announcers will mention it. But I have never heard the announcers go so far as to say a team is playing "10 vs 9" like Thomas did, or that "one man is deciding the game" like Hawk did. It was 3 hours of him saying the game was rigged and they were trying to screw the white sox. I was pretty happy when we won after listening to it.

[blaise]

Plus, the White Sox suck on balls.

[petegz28]

Hmmm. I distinctly remember Betemit getting called out for taking a pitch that Fox Tracks showed to be clearly out of the zone. I also remember Betemit had on a Royals uniform. Guess Hawk missed that pitch?

[petegz28]

Seems I also remember Greinke throwing a pitch that was showed to be a strike but was called a ball. All Fever said was "Wow, where was that one?". Guess Hawk missed that pitch too?

[Deberg_1990]

Royals havent made the playoffs in 25 years....i seriously dount any favorable calls they get makes little difference in the grand scheme of things.

[The Bad Guy]

I really honestly love listening to them.

STRETCH, STRETCH...Oh Dog gune it.

[chiefqueen]

The KC TV-announcer (LeFebvre?) lit into West during the 10 min. light "delay" Sat. night. But then again he may have wanted to get home b/c his wife probably put him on feeding/diaper duty that night since he was heading out on a road trip.

[Jethopper]

Originally Posted by Stewie

I think I've heard more than one complaint about him from the Royals. Players always rank him near the bottom as far as his umpiring abilities.

Source?

[tk13]

I said at the time that I wished the Galarraga perfect game flub happened against the White Sox. I'd put it at 50/50 that Hawk would've dropped a couple f-bombs on the air. He would've gone nuts. He was ripping on West during the Saturday night broadcast too.

[Demonpenz]

I love Hawk. He says crazy shit, you think any of the royals broadcasters would say "this guy stinks" or shit like that? It is refreshing from the regular broadcasters. I like them both, I like classy through and through, but it is always good for a laugh when they are playing the royals. You should have heard ole hawk when bentencourt hit that GrandSlam.

[Demonpenz]

There was one pitch that fox tracks had pretty much right down the middle that West called a ball.

[Demonpenz]

Hawk also has alot of respect for the royals atleast on air, he was praising how the royals the last couple years have been out of the race, but they always put together at bats late in the game. Where the royals before that ususally didn't do.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by Demonpenz

Hawk also has alot of respect for the royals atleast on air, he was praising how the royals the last couple years have been out of the race, but they always put together at bats late in the game. Where the royals before that ususally didn't do.

heh, i always love how the Royals bats light up in lat Aug/Sept when they are 20 games out.

[Coach]

Hawk Harrelson sucks.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Mama Hip Rockets]

Hawk is awesome.